Lily's Cooking
by PrincessBellePrinceAdam
Summary: xJFx Lily can't cook, but the boys don't want to hurt her feelings... Slight Casey/Lily.


**Lily's Cooking**

Theo walked into the kitchen area of the loft and stopped dead in his tracks. On the counter various ingredients were assembled, and on the other side of the counter stood Lily, looking fully prepared to maim yet another meal. "Hi Theo!" she said brightly.

"Hi Lily," Theo said slowly, warily. "What exactly are you doing? Did RJ put you on kitchen duty tonight?" The blue ranger had thought he'd made it very clear to his mentor that Lily was not known for her culinary skills.

"I thought I'd volunteer," Lily replied in that same bright, cheerful tone. Theo fought to keep a frown from crossing his face – it would hurt Lily's feelings. "I'm making spaghetti. Everybody loves spaghetti." She crossed to the cabinet and pulled out a can of tomato sauce.

Theo raced down the stairs to the pizza parlor where RJ was locking up the cash register. "Do you know what Lily's doing?" the blue ranger demanded of his boss. "She is in the loft _cooking_ dinner. She. Can't. Cook."

RJ smiled at his student. "Ah, Theo, young jaguar of negative energy. Lily, that lovable cheetah with _the big heart_," he put a careful stress on this, "has volunteered to make our sustenance for the evening. It was very kind of her to do this. Stop whining, it's not very Zen."

"You've never tasted her cooking. Her heart's in the right place, but I don't think I can eat a meal she made again. The last time she was on kitchen crew at Pai Zhuq, she gave the cubs food poisoning."

RJ looked slightly alarmed – finally, a normal reaction from the New Age hippie the rangers called master. "Did she now? But the pizzas she makes don't give our customers food poisoning. They come back all the time."

"You think I let her make pizza? I just wait until she's not looking and switch her pizza for an edible one. And I only do it because Lily's my best friend. I'm protecting her _and _our customers."

"Guys!" Lily poked her head down the stairs. "Come on, wash up. Dinner's almost ready!" She sounded so excited. Theo groaned once she had disappeared from sight once more.

"I'm pleading not hungry," he told RJ, who nodded. Screw Zen. The last thing RJ needed was food poisoning on top of everything else. He too, would find some excuse. With heavy hearts, the two headed back upstairs to Lily's disaster.

She was beaming with pride as the two men sat down at the carefully set table. Theo winced as his friend scooped hard pasta noodles onto his plate and freezing cold sauce over that. "This looks great, Lil, but I'm still full from lunch," the blue ranger said quickly.

"I ate pizza all day," RJ chimed in. This, at least, wasn't a lie. He didn't want to hurt his female student's feelings any more than Theo did, but the meal she'd made _did_ look unappetizing. Lily's face fell.

"Oh. I guess I'll eat alone then." The yellow ranger picked up her fork and wound a few long noodles onto it.

RJ and Theo returned to the kitchen of the pizza parlor, relieved. "I can't believe we got away with that."

"Got away with what?" Casey's voice questioned as he entered the back room.

RJ opened his mouth, but Theo answered the tiger ranger first. "Lily made dinner," Theo told his "leader." "She's really excited about it. You should go join her." He snickered.

"Sure," Casey said, running up to the loft. "Hi Lil," he greeted as he sat down beside her. "Theo said you made dinner. That was nice of you." The cub grinned and Lily's face lit up. She picked up his red plate and piled spaghetti onto it.

"Eat up," she enthused, happy that _someone_ appreciated what she'd done. Lily watched anxiously as Casey picked up his fork.

It might have been the grossest thing he'd ever put into his mouth, but Casey didn't let his face show this. He swallowed his bite and went back for another. Lily smiled again. Maybe this "dinner" was worth seeing Lily smile like that. "It's good," Casey managed.

"Thanks." She looked at her own plate and smiled at it. "I just wish Theo and RJ were here to share the meal with us."

Casey put two and two together: Theo's smirk as he suggested Casey go eat dinner, the laughter as Casey had agreed, RJ and Theo hiding in the kitchen saying they'd 'gotten away with it'…

"Lily, I don't think they're too fond of your cooking," Casey said gently, so as not to hurt her feelings. "I heard Theo say they'd gotten away with something, and I think this might be why."

"That's silly, Case, Theo _loves_ my cooking. He just ate a big lunch is all."

"To be honest, Lil, I think he'd rather eat a Thrilla Gorilla pizza every day for the rest of his life and Theo-"

"Hates Thrilla Gorillas, I know," Lily said sadly. "I'm just glad _someone_ likes my cooking." Casey looked away, shamefaced. "You don't like it, either?" She sounded very hurt.

Casey decided it would be better to just admit it now rather than keep lying to her. "It's terrible," he said quietly. "Oh Lily, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I-"

"You were honest. Thanks, Case. I'll just leave kitchen duty up to someone else from now on. But first…let's go get back at them for lying." Lily smiled evilly as a plan came to mind…

She grabbed the pot of noodles and motioned for Casey to get the sauce. He smiled, guessing her idea. Creeping downstairs to where RJ and Theo were sitting, Lily tipped the contents of her pot onto her mentor and the blue ranger. "Hey!"

Casey followed with the pasta sauce. "And that's called karma," he imitated RJ. Lily slapped him a high five and then kissed his cheek swiftly.

"Thanks. Honesty's a big thing for me."

"Just promise you won't cook again."


End file.
